ALBUQUERQUE -- Space travel will soon be within the reach of ordinary people, provided that they have extraordinary bank accounts.

A two-hour flight from New Mexico's Spaceport America will cost $200,000 per traveler, an executive of flight operator Virgin Galactic said Monday.

Test flights are still being conducted, and the first suborbital launch with passengers may not occur until 2013, said Will Pomerantz, a vice president of the company.

But Virgin Galactic sees a ready market for high-dollar commercial space travel, Pomerantz said. About 400 people already have made deposits for flights.

To date, only 517 people have journeyed to outer space, Pomerantz said. These astronauts from the United States, China and the former Soviet Union were blessed with perfect vision, great intellects and a fearlessness that set them apart from a million other fliers.

Commercial ventures, such as Virgin Galactic's, will widen the numbers by giving those with big incomes a taste of space travel, Pomerantz said. He spoke before about 300 people at a luncheon of the Commercial Real Estate Development Association's New Mexico chapter.

The lures of space are easy to identify, Pomerantz told the developers.

"It's fun to go. It's inspiring to go," he said.

Pomerantz said the $209 million Spaceport in Sierra County will provide more than a flight of fantasy for those with money to burn.

Advertisement

He said it will create an industry -- space tourism -- for Southern New Mexico.

Fliers who venture to the Spaceport -- 33 miles from Truth or Consequences and 50 miles from Las Cruces -- will not vacation alone, he said. They will bring spouses, children, siblings and friends who will monitor their flight.

Pomerantz said his company anticipates that the cost of space travel will drop as the business grows. He said a flight ticket should one day cost as much as a sport utility vehicle, not a middle-class home.

Virgin Galactic expects to expand its passenger base by attracting scientists as well as adventurers.

Even NASA now realizes that a market exists for the taxpayer-supported Spaceport and private companies that can fly people 64 miles above the surface of the earth, Pomerantz said.

Fliers' actual time in outer space probably will amount to about five minutes of the two-hour trip, Pomerantz said. But they will experience weightlessness before gliding back to the New Mexico desert, he said.

Each flight will carry only eight people -- a pilot, co-pilot and six passengers, Pomerantz said. Given those small numbers, Virgin Galactic probably must anchor its spaceships in New Mexico and nowhere else, he said.

It means those who want to travel into space must visit the state, he said.

Pomerantz predicted growth around the Spaceport as the pool of customers increases. He said Las Cruces may find new markets for high-end restaurants and hotels because of space travel.

Test flights will continue until Virgin Galactic decides it is ready to accommodate passengers, he said. The Federal Aviation Administration is the primary regulator of the Spaceport and its businesses.

Space travel by its nature carries dangers, Pomerantz said. But Virgin Galactic knows that the business cannot flourish unless the flights are safe, he said.

Santa Fe Bureau Chief Milan Simonich may be reached at msimonich@tnmnp.com or 505-820-6898. His blog is at nmcapitolreport.com.

Sufjan Stevens, "Carrie & Lowell" (Asthmatic Kitty) Plucked strings and pulsing keyboards dominate the distinctive arrangements on Sufjan Stevens' latest album, and in the absence of a rhythm section, they serve to keep time. Full Story

ODESSA, Texas (AP) — A West Texas man has been charged with impersonating an officer by using sirens and flashing lights to skip to the head of the drive-thru line at a fast-food restaurant. Full Story